re:mote voices

Title: The Rules of Attraction
Cast: James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Kip Pardue, Jessica Biel, Kate Bosworth
Director: Roger Avary

the rules of attraction is the third book by brett easton ellis to be adapted to film. following on from less than zero and american psycho. funnily, the rules of attraction is the only book by ellis, though long enough ago that any recollection of what happened was faded by the time we saw the film. the story follows three teens at a well off community college, one of the three being related to some degree (though not really significantly in this context) to the lead in american psycho. the story revolves around the peaks in the school year - key parties and how each character fits into those. switching back and forth between the perspectives of each of the characters, so that we see scenes from different view points. the director plays around with this aspect, at times offering split screen views, rewinding film back to a pass off point, then following the other character through the scene. this has a certain cleverness to it, and of course a visual impact, though it does have a tendency towards becoming a gimmik. through the course of the film we cover a variety of topics that relate to student life and life in general - drug use, the various attractions between the characters, the attitudes of students to non-students and vice-versa. the results have that sort of clever, knowing attitude that one gets from ellis, at least from the films of his work. even the casting of james van der beek comes with a certain success, as he throws himself into this darker - drunk and bitter - role than he has become known for. in many ways the rules of attraction can be considered superior to a lot of the teen/college films that will make their way onto the market, which is most amusing when you consider how long ago the story was written - though in some ways i think the times it was written in are reflected in the product.